Wholesalers, professional pest control industry experts and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are getting behind Humane Society International/UK’s Unstuck campaign to ban the public sale of cruel rodent glue traps. Rats and mice experience prolonged suffering on glue traps, including suffocating as the super-strong adhesive clogs their mouth or nose. Glue traps are already outlawed on animal welfare grounds in New Zealand and Ireland, and now the British Pest Control Association and the RSPCA are backing a major new push by HSI/UK to achieve a UK-wide ban too.

Whilst seeking political action to introduce a ban, HSI/UK is also enlightening retailers about the cruelty, and urging them to withdraw these products voluntarily from public sale. It’s a strategy that so far has seen major online supplier MX Wholesale agree to stop selling the glue traps, alongside one of the country’s leading cash & carry and trade wholesalers, which wishes to remain anonymous. Retailers including the British Garden Centres chain and lamps2Udirect.com have also made the ethical decision to withdraw the traps, and HSI/UK is now in communication with other vendors.

Navid Rezaei, managing director of MX Wholesale, which also donated its remaining glue trap stock to HSI/UK for destruction, said: “To show our support for the ‘Unstuck' campaign and put an end to the cruelty caused by rat and mouse glue traps, we have decided to withdraw these traps from our catalogue. When we looked at the evidence showing that animals caught on glue traps could be subjected to extreme and extended suffering, and people who use glue traps are at risk of committing an offence under the Animal Welfare Act, we instantly made the decision to clear our shelves of all remaining stock. We thank Humane Society International for bringing this matter to our attention.”

Under the law, people who use a glue trap have a legal obligation to prevent ‘unnecessary suffering’ and to kill any live animal they catch ‘quickly and humanely’. A recent YouGov opinion poll commissioned by HSI/UK found that many people are at risk of committing an offence under the Animal Welfare Act (2006) by not knowing this and leaving live rodents to die on the trap, drowning them, or throwing them alive in the rubbish bin.

The poll also found that almost 70 per cent of the British public agree that glue traps should be banned in the UK. Increasing consumer awareness about glue trap cruelty is a key aspect of HSI/UK’s Unstuck campaign, alongside education about humane strategies for keeping homes rodent-free.

Claire Bass, executive director for HSI/UK, said: “We are delighted that our Unstuck campaign is gathering such momentum, with the support of prominent pest control and retail stakeholders all agreeing with us that cruel glue traps shouldn’t be sold to the public. These are hideous devices that can and do inflict severe animal suffering. When we show that suffering to retailers, and the appalled reactions of potential shoppers, they’re removing them swiftly and we commend them for that. We’re off to a really encouraging start but we need more retailers to do the right thing and take these inhumane products off shop shelves.”

HSI advocates the use of non-lethal methods of dealing with unwanted wildlife visitors and promotes solutions that are not only more humane but, through focusing on deterrence and eviction, are also more effective in the long-term. Blocking access points, removing all food sources, using a range of welfare-friendly deterrents such as mouse-mesh and eucalyptus oil, and as a last resort relocating individuals using a live-capture trap, are solutions that can keep homes and gardens rodent-free. More information can be found here hsi.org/gluetraps.

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 2,044 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 16th and 17th June 2015. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all GB adults (aged 18+).

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